Tourism in Gujarat

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Gujarat is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about 1,600 km (990 mi) is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, with an area of 196,024 km² (75,685 sq mi); and the ninth-most populous state, with a population of 60.4 million. It is a popular tourist destination in the country, and was visited by 19.5 million domestic tourists (9th Rank in India); and 210 thousand international tourists (11th Rank in India) in 2020.^[1]

Gujarat's scenery spans from the Great Rann of Kutch to the hills of Saputara. Gujarat is the only place to view pure Asiatic lions in the world.^[2] During the Sultanate reign, Hindu craftsmanship mixed with Islamic architecture, giving rise to the Indo-Saracenic style. Many structures in the state are built in this fashion. It is also the birthplace of Shrimad Rajchandra, Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, iconic figures of India's independence movement. In recent years Statue Of Unity has emerged as the major tourist spot of Gujarat. It is the tallest statue in the world.

Amitabh Bachchan is currently the brand ambassador of Gujarat Tourism. The ‘Khushboo Gujarat Ki' campaign by Amitabh Bachchan has increased tourism in Gujarat by 14 per cent per annum, twice that of the national growth rate.^[3] Ahmedabad is considered an ideal starting point to enter the state with its central location and a well connected international airport (~5.7 million passengers during 2021/22 ^[4]). Moreover, The well-developed transport infrastructure eases the connectivity to all parts of the state.^[5] Gujarat ranked 9th in the top 10 states/UTs of India in number of domestic tourist visits in 2017.^[6]